Something weird is going on in Europe. Straightbourbon.com’s lead Swede, Leif, discovered something odd on German ebay. This.
According to friend-of-the-blog Ben Kickert’s google translation, the ebay page translates to something close to the following:
“Jim Beam Kentucky Straight Bourbon Signature Six Grains Whiskey 1 liter with 44.5% vol in a distinctive leather bag. This limited bottling is 6 years old. The six different grains distilled bourbon is very soft and vollaromtisch. Caramel and vanilla accents dominate the taste until his velvety and warm long finish. It is the first bottling of a beginning series of Jim Beams, the short run the market will come in only.”
What’s weird is that nobody, not even those who make their living writing about bourbon (well, at least some of their living) has heard anything about this. It claims to be made from six grains, which is bizarre. Four-grain bourbons have been made from time to time, most infamously the Woodford Reserve Master’s Collection Four Grain (for a fun read consult this SB.com thread), but this is unprescendented. The bottle seems to be genuine, but releasing a new expression overseas, apparently through duty-free shops, is highly unusual.
Speculation on the six grains (beyond the usual suspects of corn, barley, rye & wheat) has ranged from oats and millet to triticale and candy corn. One possibility is that multiple varieties of corn (or something else) are being counted as seperate grains. Woodstone Creek (a winery/distillery in Cincinnati) used two varieties of corn to make their bourbon, and claimed it as a 5 grain bourbon.
Anyway, a lot of heads are being scratched right now. I’ll keep you posted.
Sipology 